How do you define "Hoarding ammo"?

P

PatientWolf

New member
Based on all the discussion about people haring ammo, I am wondering how people define that. I assume it is somewhat dependent on the weapons that typically use the cartridge. For instance a specific number of rounds of 30-06 might be considered to be hoarding, but the same number of rounds of .22LR or 5.56 might not because of the weapons that use them. The same could be said of .45LC vs .45ACP.

So if we consider a cartridges:
Typically fired from a center fire bolt rifle.
Typically fired from a semi-automatic rifle.
Typically fired from a rim fire rifle or pistol (I group these because often people have both).
Typically fired from a center fire pistol.

What do you consider hoarding?

I would start with part of my definition would be purchasing more than 100 rounds of pistol or 20 rounds of rifle ammunition that you have no weapons chambered for and never intend to purchase weapons for.
 
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For me it has nothing to do with the amount of ammo someone keeps. For me it is someone buying and storing ammo that they have no intentions of ever using. I have a fair amount of ammo, but I continue to buy when I can at reasonable prices because I don't think ammo is ever going to go down in price. I don't get to shoot very often, so, it is starting to accumulate.
 
Buying more than you reasonably need/will need.

For a competitor/high-volume shooter, 100,000 rounds (or even more) may not be hoarding given that shortages occur and during those shortages it may not be possible to purchase ammo.

For the person who fired 20 rounds last year and plans to shoot 20 rounds this year and the same next year, and so on, then 100 rounds could be hoarding.
 
I don't believe there's any such thing, and I think it's fundamentally unAmerican to complain about other people buying stuff.

pax
 
I have to agree with Pax, but at the same time, I'd have to point out that if you don't plan on using what you buy, then why buy it? I have quite a bit of ammo, but I will likely use it all this year. I certainly am not just going to let it sit around and collect dust.
 
I had never considered a definition based on how much you will use over a given time-only in a piece count. The number that will be consumed by a person over time makes a lot more sense. Thanks.
 
"Buying more than you reasonably need/will need."


Bingo. If you will NEED 100,000 rounds, in a reasonable length of time....then perhaps you should HAVE 100,000 rounds on hand. If you shoot 1000 rounds a YEAR, then buying up all of the 9mm ammo you can find, for example, just to keep it away from others, is hoarding. Suddenly deciding that you have to have a 20 year supply, when you know supplies are tight for everyone....is hoarding.

Obviously, the definition is a subjective thing. However, everyone understands intrinsically what their own needs happen to be....we all know our own threshold for hoarding. Getting some to be honest about it - that is another matter.

In this area, excuses abound.
 
When someone goes into debt for it.I went to Gander Mountain last week the sales guy told me a guy bought all of the primers they had.He couldn't tell me how much but he said the guy used 2 creidt cards to pay for it.
 
Some people actually think they need a lifetime supply of 50,000 rounds for SHTF -- Wrong !!!

If SHTF, there isn't going to be any ammo shortage. You only need enough for 2-3 battles. If you win, you get HIS ammo. If you lose, he gets YOUR ammo.

Keep winning, and you will have plenty of ammo. Lose, and you won't need it.
 
I agree with those who define hoarding as buying and stock piling more than you need (who determines need?) or will ever use. I consider myself to be a border line "hoarder" in that I've purchased powder and primers that will take me years to use. It started out of fear, and during the last drought. I couldn't find components any where. I would visit gun shops as I traveled between West Virginia and North Carolina and if they had anything I could use (regardless of the brand) I would purchase it. Before I knew it, I had around 15 pounds of powder and over six thousand primers. That may not fit the definition of "hoarding" to some of you, but for me its excessive because I don't get to go to the range that often, and it will take me years to use 1/3 of what I have. Do I intend to stop? No! The first drought taught me to never get caught with my pants down again. The recent drought reinforced it.
 
What is hoarding? Frankly, I don't care. I don't care what others may think about my ammo and reloading supply buying habit and I don't really care how other people choose to spend their money.

All this "that guy is hoarding" or "that business is gouging" talk is just silly. We have a free market (well, sort of, kind of, free....it still resembles a free market...maybe) and this is how they work. I can find better things to worry or think about beyond how other people are spending their money.
 
I consider myself to be a border line "hoarder" in that I've purchased powder and primers that will take me years to use.
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As long as you're buying when the prices are "good", and not trying to stock up at the height of the supply/pricing craze, then I don't think that's "hoarding" at all, because you still haven't bought more than you will ever use.

Properly stored, most components will outlast the owner, and historically, the prices appear to increasing faster than inflation, so buying what you can when the prices are good makes sense as long as you're pretty sure you'll use it eventually.
 
I like the way Overhead put it. In time the panic will end, people with lots of ammo will quit buying and supplies will return to normal. We live in a free market people, that's the way it is.
 
It's in the eye of the beholder and the envious. Buying and storing ammo that you will use is not hoarding IMO. Nor is buying more when you find some at a good price.
 
Pax:

I don't believe there's any such thing, and I think it's fundamentally unAmerican to complain about other people buying stuff.
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^^^ This ^^^


The idea that "He's hoarding and I'm not" hinges on the idea that "My need to hoard is _better_ than his need to hoard". That's silly.

Some people own guns and never shoot them. Same with cars, guitars, surfboards, tools.


Sgt Lumpy - n0eq
 
In time the panic will end, people with lots of ammo will quit buying and supplies will return to normal. We live in a free market people, that's the way it is.
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This is true...
HOWEVER... the "normal" balance of supply and demand- which seeks it's own level over long periods of time- has been SEVERELY disrupted.

Demand has increased by who knows what percentage...the manufacturers have ramped up prodution to the maximum levels they feel are prudent for their business.

I see no other scenario in that, after the hoarders get their cupboards full, they will drop out of the demand chain for quite a while- and the manufacturing/supply end of the equation will need to adjust again, just as they're doing now.
 
It reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode where the guy had a fallout shelter. When the neighbors thought the Big One was coming they all wanted in. They were deriding him for not sharing , and not being a good neighbor , etc. That's what hoarding is. When the other guy's got something you want and he won't share. Hoarding ! :eek:
 
If not for hoarding we'd all be able to buy ammo, BUT, if we could all buy ammo then there wouldn't be any hoarding.
An interesting thought on the same subject, the other wild card here is the government buying up so much. With the Sequester a real possibility, this may slow down and be good news for all of us. I came across the following quote in a news article:

Now, Napolitano presumably could cut other parts of her agency, ammunition orders, for instance.
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